Four Rooms

Deathstroke #9-10 is a change of pace story consisting of four vignettes, titled “Four Rooms,” which introduces the venerable Dr. Arthur Villain to the series who has a yet-to-be-revealed relationship with Slade and ends up bonding, in a sense, with Jericho. Rose travels to Vietnam to learn more about her Hmong heritage from her mother’s family, and, while held in SuperMax (Colorado federal prison), Slade regales his interviewer with a pre-Deathstroke story from his past.

Guest artist Cary Nord really hits this thing out of the park with elegant Russ Heath-meets-David Mazzucheli brushwork as he effortlessly handles the driving heat of Vietnamese hill country or Minneapolis metropolitan snow, military hardware to classic weaponry and everything in between. This is really lovely stuff and a story that sets the stage for dramatic new turns for the Wilson family.

19 Comments

  1. DeathSkeleton says:

    I’m enjoying it so far, the Wilson family have so many angles and personalities I love seeing explored. Can’t wait for #10 and the Titans Crossover when it happens.

  2. Thad says:

    I loved Nord’s work on Conan. His work here is way different, and not quite what I expected from him, but that just makes it even more impressive.

  3. Trev says:

    You’ve been truly blessed with some great artists. Keep up the good work, y’all.

  4. BigShadow says:

    love Deathstroke a bit confusing still love it but eye have to trade wait for it sorry eye will leave off singles with issue 10 but honestly mr priest how man issues would vol 2 contain?

  5. DeathSkeleton says:

    Hello priest I was wondering if I could get your confirmation of Deathstroke being the Worlds Greatest Tactician? Also is it true that “He is probably the smartest guy in DC”?

    • Priest Priest says:

      I don’t know that he’s the world’s greatest tactician. Per DC, he is the world’s greatest assassin. Is he the smartest guy in the DCU? I doubt it. But I don’t think Batman is, either, To me, Deathstroke and Batman are fairly evenly matched. DS is certainly tactically smart, but he has always used tech guys (like Hosun) and weaponers.

      Tanya (Power Girl) Spears, who joins the series cast in issue #14, is, I believe, the world’s smartest teen. DS and PG make a very odd couple.

  6. Captain Fuggin America says:

    Hello Mr. Priest, I was just wondering where you believe Deathstroke stands in relations to his near equivalent from marvel (Captain America). I have a class debate coming up about Captain America vs Batman and I would like to know your opinion on this.

    I’m not asking for your opinion on who’d win on a fight, just if you believe Captain America is about as strong, fast, strategic, and so on considering that they have so many similar feats.

    If you could get back to me before Wednesday I would be eternally grateful. Thank you in advance to if you respond.

  7. Sam says:

    Hello Mr. Priest!

    The past two issues have been solid work and gave us plenty of insight. From the start of Slade and Wintergreen’s partnership and how he got the nomiker Deathstroke (the idea a poker game was involved is wonderfully hilarious to me) to how his children’s powers work. There’s a couple obvious changes which I’m going to guess had to do with explaining how Joey and Rose have such different powers as well as why Joey missed out on the silver hair. Though not sure about Joey’s powers now involve his body being left behind while his mind “jumps.” I guess he missed out on the useful healing factor as well?

    On the Wilson kids it’s a pleasant surprise that Rose’s non-Wilson family is being explored so much. On Joey I’m glad we’re getting closer to dealing with what happened with Ikon and what else will come out of that. Not to mention what exactly is going on with HIVE. Back to codename origins do you think you’ll give a reason how Joey chose “Jericho?” It be interesting to see as its rather abstract unless you’re familiar with how Marv Wolfman recycled an unused hero’s name for him.

    Can’t say much else but the lovely details of Cary Nord’s art and Dr. Villain (it’s French) except for the seeds for Slade’s past with the Titans being explored here and in their recent book being planted. Looking forward for the next segments as per usual.

    • Priest Priest says:

      Okay, I’m going to confess that I twisted DC’s arm(s) to allow me to slightly modify Joseph’s power. With tremendous respect for my former mentor Marv, I’m just having a hard time with this “intangibility” business because there was (to my knowledge) no foundation for this aspect of Joseph’s powers. It just seemed made up, as did Rose’s ability to see the future.

      These tweaks are largely my own conceits and I’m sure somebody will come along later and Donald Trump me, undoing my vision and putting things back the way they were. But, for now, I take more of a Carl Sagan approach to superheroes, preferring to ground them in as much reality as I can. Deathstroke #10 was my best effort to put Joseph (pre-Deathstroke powers conception) and Rose (post-DS and therefore silver hair and likely some form of rapid healing) into a perspective I, me, personally, can parse.

      Now, mind you, this was only *Dr. Villain*’s opinion. I’ve left the door wide open for others to come in after me and do whatever they want.

      The origin of Jericho’s code name will appear in issue #17.

      Thanks for the kind words.

      • Sam says:

        You’re more than welcome! Looking forward to those future issues!

        The intangibility aspect is tricky (especially with what happens to clothes that make them intangible with the body, like Gar Logan and his suit when he transforms) but I guess that’s being a reader of odd fiction that gives you a lot of “suspension of disbelief.” It makes sense in a way just now Joey has to worry about his body left unattended… and hopefully not lead to him becoming Deadman 2.0. And this power change isn’t as drastic from his original ones compared to the past two volumes of Deathstroke which made him more of a telepath, so no complaints in that regard

  8. DeathSkeleton says:

    Mr Priest, I have a question regarding Deathstroke’s mind, does it make him resistant to mind readers or those with Pre Cognition abilities?
    I remember in Post Crisis, that Deathstroke claimed to be immune to Ravagers Pre Cog due to controlling his body.

    Also how durable is Deathstroke’s Classic Blue Body armor, its promethium correct?

  9. Cthulhudrew says:

    Just got finished with #13, and am enjoying each and every issue more and more. Amazing how you can manage to capture so much plot and nuance into the same amount of pages that it seems so many comics these days can’t manage in several issues.

    In any event, there is a scene in this issue with Joseph that kind of got me to thinking that- for someone with his particular powers- it wouldn’t be all that surprising for him to have a pretty fluid sense of sexual identity. I hadn’t made that connection before, but I’m curious if that is one that occurred to you (Priest), and if you think it contributed to the character as you write him, or if you think that it was only a factor, or not a factor at all?

  10. Robo-Washington says:

    I read #14 yesterday, and why was a needle suddenly able to get past the Ikon Suit?

    • Priest Priest says:

      The Ikon Suit is an unfinished prototype. It is missing a sleeve. When inactive, there are no sensors, etc. on Slade’s left arm.

      • Robo-Washington says:

        I also ordered a Green Arrow/Black Canary paperback yesterday, and the Ikon Suit is pretty visually reminiscent of the suit worn by a guy named Dodger. Was that unintentional?

  11. BigShadow says:

    did u hear Quantum & Woody are getting a TV Show http://screenrant.com/quantum-woody-tv-series-anthony-joe-russo/ how does that make you feel

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